Here we go, the first battle of the Obama era. Although the stimulus bill passed in the House tonight, GOP folks are already celebrating a small victory…the joy of knowing that they can all agree on something. The House GOP unanimously voted against the bill, in a stand of unity that has been unseen for quite sometime. The grand old boys are at their best when on the defense.
And get this: 11 Democrats voted against the bill, too. They are:
Boyd
D
FL
Bright
D
AL
Cooper
D
TN
Ellsworth
D
IN
Griffith
D
AL
Kanjorski
D
PA
Kratovil
D
MD
Minnick
D
ID
Peterson
D
MN
Shuler
D
NC
Taylor
D
MS
In a press release, House Minority Leader John Boehner called it “a bipartisan rejection of a partisan bill.” Maybe, but not enough to defeat the bill.
Making the rounds at 18th Street Lounge tonight near Dupont Circle, I found conservatives who seemed pretty elated about the vote. They know it’s going to pass, but dammit, their boys pulled together and stood up against a bill that they knew the media would bow down and worship.
“This will embolden Senate Republicans,” one person said.
“The Blue Dogs finally came through!” said another.
“When this fails, the Democrats will own this problem,” came an exclamation from the other side of the room.
So, finally, the Republicans aren’t at fault for ruining the country. They’re happy to be there, too. For once, they can sit back, disagree, and watch it burn.
Wisely tapping in on Obama Inc., a few intrepid capitalists have rented a large retail space near the National Mall, offering everything Inauguration ‘09.
Browsing Facebook, I found this group called, “I am Boycotting Obama Until He Demonstrates Commitment to GLBT Rights,” a two-member community that is angry over Rick Warren’s future Inaugural prayer.
Rolling my eyes, I wondered how one can boycott a president. Don’t watch TV? Stay off the Internet? Pretend Bush is still president? What?
Oh, here’s how, from the group:
I am refusing to buy anything Obama related until he shows his commitment to GLBT issues by doing one of the following…
….This includes Tee shirts, coffee mugs, Washington Metro Smart Cards and one-day passes bearing his likeness
Ohhh, that’s how you boycott the leader of the free world. By not buying a coffee mug.Way to hit him where it hurts! Since everyone knows that Obama gets a commission from every street stall that sells a T-Shirt with the president-elect’s image, I am sure this little Facebook endeavor will really make an impact.
Here’s to “boycotting” Obama…
But with pecs like these, will they be able to resist for long?
Esquirespeculates that Obama may be on track to changing, or at least “re-thinking” the nation’s drug policy during his term. Calling the drug war a “failure” Obama says he believes in “shifting the paradigm” of the national drug policy.
This obviously won’t be first on his agenda, but the fact that Obama is open to reanalyzing how this nation handles drug policy is a step in the right direction. As far as marijuana is concerned, it should at least be left up to the states, removing federal control. Obama is absolutely right in challenging the success of the War on Drugs, and hopefully he will move toward a more sound policy in the years to come.
He doesn’t have to “legalize” anything, but should simply de-criminalize it under federal law and allow the states to make their own choices on how they want to regulate what consenting adults put into their own bodies.
Of course, it will probably serve as a prime red herring for social conservatives who love to get distracted from important issues to chase down things like this. We shall see.
